Creative Wiltshire

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White Horse Pictures project success

Wiltshire’s digital cinema initiative, White Horse Pictures, delivers on its promise. Three years ago the project was funded to provide high quality film exhibition for people in rural Wiltshire.
Two new venues are now established showing first run feature films at full cinema digital sound and vision quality and a host of smaller venues in town halls and villages have benefited from the funding.

The two new venues are at Malmesbury, the Town Hall and Melksham Assembly Hall. Both are fully kitted out with the latest DCI equipment and provide a modern immersive cinema experience. In addition to this a series of smaller venues have been established with a high quality viewing facility including the pop up retro cinema in Box , the Panache Picture House and the screen at Pound Arts in Corsham.

All the screens are showing first run films and new releases, Melksham is also showing live links ups to major international arts venues, opera, dance and theatre. This will soon be coming to Malmesbury and Corsham.

Melksham has just launched its first film festival specifically for young people, the Pound Arts film festival programme will be announced shortly. Panache Picture House is building links with the Bath Film Festival

The British Federation of Film Societies in Wiltshire used the touring equipment sourced by White Horse pictures to support film societies developing in a number of communities from Cricklade in the north of the county to Warminster in the southwest .

White Horse Pictures was the Wiltshire element of the UK Film Council's Rural Cinema Pilot Scheme which brought high standard digital equipment to rural audiences giving them the opportunity to enjoy the benefits that modern digital cinemas have to offer. Wiltshire was one of three areas chosen to benefit from a share in a £1.2 million Lottery funded investment supporting high quality cinema exhibition often in non-traditional venues such as village and town halls, arts centres and other community spaces.

The White Hourse Pictures consortium included Wiltshire College, Pound Arts Centre, BFFS South West region and other organisations interested in film exhibition, it was supported by South West Screen, subsequently Creative England, and Wiltshire Council.